An Introduction to Performance Analysis of Sport

Peter O'Donoghue

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317810346
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Sports Medicine

Performance analysis has become an essential tool for coaches, athletes, sports organisations and academic researchers. Collecting and interpreting performance data enables coaches to improve their training programmes, athletes to make better tactical decisions, sports organisations to manage teams more effectively, and researchers to develop a better understanding of sports performance. This book is an essential introduction to the fundamental principles of performance analysis of sport and how to develop and operate performance analysis systems.

Containing worked examples from real sporting events throughout, the book introduces the basics of quantitative and qualitative performance analysis, reviews the different types of data and information that performance analysis can generate, and explains how to test for reliability. It presents a step-by-step guide to developing both manual and computerised analysis systems, and writing up and presenting findings from performance analysis programmes. Representing the most up-to-date, concise and engaging introduction to sports performance analysis, this book is an ideal course text for all introductory performance analysis courses, as well as an invaluable primer for coaches and practitioners in sport.

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS SPORTS PERFORMANCE
ANALYSIS?

INTRODUCTION

This introductory chapter introduces sports performance analysis by asking the following questions: What? Why? Who? Where? When? and How? What is sports performance analysis? What are sports performance data and information? Why do we analyse sports performance? Who analyses sports performance? Where is sports performance analysis done? When is sports performance analysis done? How is sports performance analysis done? The answers to these questions are not independent. The reason why sports performance analysis is done and who requires the information can dictate what information is required. The information required can in turn influence when it is needed and thus when sports performances should be analysed. The time at which information is needed and economic constraints dictate the methods and locations of sports performance analysis tasks. These questions will be answered in turn but readers can expect some necessary overlap between the answers.

This chapter recognises that sports performance analysis is primarily an observational analysis task. The reason for doing it is to improve sports performance although there are also rehabilitation, academic, media and judging contexts of sports performance analysis. The roles of players, coaches and analysts with respect to data gathering and feedback within the coaching process are discussed. Sports performance analysis can be done at match venues, performance analysis laboratories and other locations. There are sports performance analysis activities that are done before, during and after competition, and the chapter distinguishes between live during-match analysis and post-match analysis. The final question is ‘How?’ This is answered by introducing the main manual and computerised methods that will be covered in detail later in the book.

Another way of phrasing the question ‘What?’ is by asking ‘What should be analysed?’ Specifically, what are the purposes of using sports performance analysis and what aspects of sports performance can be analysed. There are many different purposes of sports performance analysis including analysis of players, teams, coach behaviour and referees (O’Donoghue, 2010: 4–5). The purposes include work-rate analysis (Carling and Bloomfield, 2013), tactical analysis (Hibbs and O’Donoghue, 2013), effectiveness of chosen techniques (Palao and Morante, 2013) and analysis of technique (Lees, 2008; Campos, 2013). Academic investigations are done into factors influencing sports performance (Taylor et al., 2008; Gomez et al., 2013). There are also judging (Kirkbride, 2013a) and media (James, 2008; Kirkbride, 2013b) applications of sports performance analysis. This chapter includes a section on two main purposes of sports performance analysis that will be used throughout this book; work-rate analysis and match analysis. The match analysis purpose combines tactical analysis with analysing the effectiveness of skills. This is because tactical choices can be evaluated by how effectively they are applied.

SPORTS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: WHAT? WHY? WHO? WHERE? WHEN? AND HOW?

What is sports performance analysis?

This is the first of three subsections asking the question ‘What?’ in relation to sports performance analysis; what is sports performance analysis, what are the purposes of sports performance analysis and what variables should be analysed? In considering what sports performance analysis is, we are considering the nature of the sports performance analysis in practice as well as the academic discipline.

The main thing that distinguishes sports performance analysis from other disciplines of sports science is that actual performance is analysed. This is usually done through observation of the performance which could be live or post-competition if it has been video recorded. Sports performance analysis would typically not include either of the following:

■ Self-report studies such as interviews, focus groups or questionnaires that explore general motives, intentions, attitudes and beliefs about sport.

■ Laboratory experiments, field experiments or testing.

However, O’Donoghue (2010: 2) proposed that self-report and laboratory methods could be included within the scope of sports performance analysis under certain conditions. Any data coming from actual sports performance allows studies to fall within the broad scope of sports performance analysis. Such data are not limited to observational data. The data can include qualitative data, quantitative data, notation, video sequences, measurement, heart-rate responses, perceived exertion, blood lactate measures, EEG (electroencephalography) measures and EMG (electromyography) measures. Measurements of acceleration and location are possible during sports performance. Location can be sampled at 10Hz or greater by devices that can be worn by players during training and that are permitted during competition in some sports. There are thoughts and decision making processes that occur during actual sports performance that cannot be directly observed but which are relevant aspects of sports performance. Where an athlete observes a recording of their performance, reflecting on it and discusses the thoughts they had and decisions they made during the performance, interview data allow this aspect of performance to be studied (Poziat et al., 2010). This is a different use of self-report techniques to their traditional use in researching general attitudes and beliefs. It is an innovative use of interviews, focus groups, accounts or other self-report methods to investigate the experience of actual sports performance.

There is a case to be made for some controlled laboratory experiments falling within the scope of sports performance analysis. Analysis of technique has been done using biomechanics methods (Bartlett, 1999; Lees, 2008). Although many biomechanics investigations are done away from actual competition and training, biomechanics techniques have long been recognised as being within the scope of performance analysis (Hughes and Bartlett, 2004, 2008). Technique is an important aspect of sport, especially in cyclic sports activities such as running, swimming, cycling and walking (Marinho et al., 2013) as well as explosive sports such as field events in athletics (Campos, 2013). Lees (2008) classified skills as event skills, major skills and minor skills. Event skills constitute the entire event being performed such as the long jump. Major skills are dominant skills in the given sport, for example hurdling in sprint hurdles. Minor skills are important skills performed in the sport which are not dominant. There are games that contain critically important techniques such as the golf swing or the tennis serve. It is often not possible to collect detailed information about technique during actual competition. Setting up, calibrating and using a system such as Vicon™ (Vicon, Los Angeles, CA) on the first tee of the Ryder Cup or on Centre Court at Wimbledon is not going to happen. Therefore, important skills of sports are analysed in laboratory situations. While this is not actual competition and the limitations are recognised, relevant skills of the sport such as running stride, golf swing and tennis serve are being examined. Often there is a tradeoff between ecological validity and experimental control. Ecological validity is where the study is representative of the real world context of interest. Observing actual sports performance has strong ecological validity. However, actual sports performance is not controlled by analysts and is influenced by many factors. Therefore, experimental control is not possible when studying actual competition. Laboratory studies of technique can be done under controlled conditions while also having a reasonable degree of ecological validity due to the importance and frequency with which the skills under investigation occur within competition.

What are the application areas of sports performance analysis?

The second ‘What’ is ‘What are the application areas of sports performance analysis?’ There are coaching, media, judging and academic purposes. Within a coaching context, sports performance analysis is used within a cycle of competing, reflecting, decision making and preparing for further competition (Franks, 1997; O’Donoghue and Mayes, 2013a). In practical situations within coaching environments, training is analysed as well as performance (Winkler, 1988; Mayes et al., 2009). The term ‘feed-forward’ has been used instead of feedback where performance is analysed during training (Dowrick and Raeburn, 1977; Dowrick, 1991). Much of the research on feed-forward has focused on individual techniques. The purpose of analysing closed skills in detail within laboratory situations is to rehearse and improve these prior to competition. Feed-forward has also been applied in games sports with documented examples going back to 20 years. Consider the video of the England Football Squad’s qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup (‘Do I Not Like That!’). One of the interesting sections in this video was the coverage of the home qualifying match against Poland. The video interleaved excerpts from a training session prior to this match with footage from the actual match which England won by three goals to nil. In one part, it shows the head coach, Graham Taylor, warning that Poland’s defence was vulnerable when dealing with crosses and that crosses should be played in early to England’s centre forward, Les Ferdinand. The squad were shown playing crosses in training with forwards running into the penalty area to head the ball towards goal. Then the video showed where this was successfully done in the match with Les Ferdinand heading a goal from a cross. Another part showed Paul Gascoigne, Stuart Pearce and Graham Taylor discussing a way of taking a free kick if Poland set up a defensive wall. This was rehearsed in training and the programme also showed this type of free kick being used by Stuart Pearce to score a goal in the match. These are examples of feed-forward, because they allow areas of performance to be analysed before the match and decisions to be made about how to play. These decisions may involve abandoning tactics that the team cannot perform successfully, or selecting players who can effectively implement the tactics that have been rehearsed.

In an academic context, sports performance analysis is used to research many areas of sports performance. There are investigations that use exclusively observational methods, while others use sports performance analysis as part of a multi-disciplinary investigation allowing use of complementary methods. Examples of studies that have used computerised notational analysis along with qualitative techniques include some studies of coach behaviour that have been done using the Arizona State University Observation Instrument (ASUOI) (Lacy and Darst, 1984, 1985, 1989). One study of netball coach behaviour used the ASUOI to compare coaches of different levels and then presented these results to an expert coach who was interviewed about the differences between coaches of different levels (Donnelly and O’Donoghue, 2008). Another example of sport performance analysis being used with other methods was a triangulation of computerised time-motion analysis of netball performance, psychological inventory and interviews (Hale, 2004). Hale compared competitive matches with training matches played by seven players using computerised time-motion analysis, having asked the players to complete the DM-CSAI2 questionnaire before the matches. After the matches, players were interviewed about the experiences of playing in training and competitive matches.

Lupo et al. (2012) used time-motion analysis and physiological measures to assess the demands of waterbasket. Larkin et al. (2011) investigated Australian Rules football using performance analysis to identify situations to include in a system used to test game understanding of players and umpires. The system was used within a prediction task which was developed into a test protocol used by players and umpires. Robinson et al. (2011) undertook a triangulation study to evaluate the risk associated with player movements in FA Premier League soccer. Time-motion analysis was triangulated with anthropometric measures and injury history data. The number of sharp path changes...